SAN MARINO GP: POINTS MISSED NARROWLY
Changing weather conditions played their rules to deliver a crazy race in Misano this afternoon; Stefan Bradl crossed the line in 16th position to miss a points scoring finish.
The majority of the MotoGP riders had a visit to their box twice today as the race was started in dry condition before it started to drizzle with some minutes later the rain got heavier and some busy action started in pit lane for changing to the bike prepared for rain setup. However, it just was a short rain shower and the track dried out quickly. So the riders came in for a second time to continue the race during the second part with slick tyres again.
Bradl, who went off the line from P19, lost a lot of time in wet conditions as he wasn’t able to find a feeling the the bike and condition. Though he started to recover position after his second visit to his box whereas his feeling with the dry setting was decidedly positive.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia) – 16th, World Championship position 20th (11 points):
“I should have made the second bike change one lap sooner, but in these situations it’s always difficult to take the right decision. Obviously the track seemed suitable for slick tyres already, but I still saw some drops on my top faring, so I decided to come in one lap later. In any case I had lost too much time after the first bike change because I didn’t find a proper feeling with the wet bike and in the first few laps on a wet track it was very difficult to ride with the bike sliding around so much. The positive thing is that in the last part of the race with slick tyres I had a good feeling and I was able to record fast lap time immediately, recovering some positions.”
Race Classification MotoGP™ Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini:
1 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 48´23.819
2 Bradley SMITH / GBR / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / Yamaha / +7.288
3 Scott REDDING / GBR / Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS / Honda / +18.793
16 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia / +58.828
MotoGP™ World Standing:
1 Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 247
2 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 224
3 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 184
20 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia / 11
Next race: MotorLand Aragon / Spain, September 27th